During operation of a device, such as, for example, of a vehicle with different operating states, it can transpire that a feedback message is to be provided to the user at a force controller, such as, for example, at an accelerator pedal of the vehicle. For providing such a feedback message, actuators are generally used, which act with a force in a predetermined strength on the force controller and, for example, counteract a force that is applied by a user for deflecting the force controller. Accordingly, strong forces are required, which, in turn, lead to a high load being placed on a respective actuator, so that it may happen that, for component protection reasons, for example, for protection against overheating, the actuator has to be switched off.
In the German publication DE 10 2012 108589 A1, a method for operating a motor vehicle that has at least one drive unit, which is designed as an internal combustion engine, is presented, wherein the drive unit is actuated via a gas pedal and a control unit that interacts with the gas pedal, whereby a driver is alerted by way of a haptic feedback message at the gas pedal that, in response to the gas pedal having traversed a path of travel, which is associated with a specific power requirement transmitted to the control unit, a defined action that brings about a change in the travel drive is initiated and carried out, wherein the haptic feedback message is implemented as a characteristic of the gas pedal that is stored in the control unit and starts from the defined free path of travel of the specific path of travel of the gas pedal.
The German publication DE 10 2013 010269 A1 relates to a method for providing a haptic feedback message for activation of a downshift operation in an automatic transmission.
A gas pedal with a kickdown switch is disclosed in the German publication DE 10 217 050 A1.